


I Just Need One Good One to Stay

by iheartallthefandoms



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fake/Pretend Relationship, Famous Harry, Kid Fic, M/M, Non-Famous Louis, but a weird one, famous and nonfamous, louis has a kid, niall is a lawyer, pr relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-20
Updated: 2017-09-20
Packaged: 2018-12-31 19:10:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12139182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iheartallthefandoms/pseuds/iheartallthefandoms
Summary: Harry is a closeted pop star, and Louis is a single parent of an amazing 2 year old. They wind up at the same club, meet, start falling for each other, and make out. The next morning, blurry pictures are released, outing Harry. A fake relationship is proposed to smooth it all over. But what happens when they're Harry & Louis and destined to be together? And what about that adorable 2 year old?





	I Just Need One Good One to Stay

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jbm_94_bcn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jbm_94_bcn/gifts).



> Story Title from Lady Gaga's Million Reasons.
> 
> Hey! This is a pinch hit for the amazing H/L Summer Exchange 2017. It's a bit late but school got in the way!
> 
> Thanks to my amazing beta, as always! (She rocks!)
> 
> This is for jbm_94_bcn! I hope you like it! I went with your first prompt (mostly) because I know nothing of pirates or Big Brother! :)

A loud knock woke him up out of what seemed to be a rather good dream, judging by the state of his pants.

Louis ignored the incessant knocking that had only gotten louder. Whoever was insisting at waking up the entire neighborhood at – Louis glanced at the clock- 6:13 am was fucking insane.

‘Jamie!’ he thought, and bolted out of bed, not wanting the knocker to wake up his two year old. HE slipped and skidded all the way to the door, pulling on a shirt with his joggers, before he remembered that Jamie was spending the night at his mum’s house. Thus the hangover pounding in his head. And the clubbing the night before.

Louis took a deep breath and opened the door. A smiling blond man was mid-knock.

“Can I help you, mate?” Louis barked.

“Louis Tomlinson?”

“Yes.” Louis replied warily.

“I’m Niall. Niall Horan. Of Horan and Payne.” The man said firmly, sticking out his hand for Louis to shake.

Louis ignored the offer, looking at the man blankly. “And?”

“We need to talk, Mr. Tomlinson. May I come in? This is somewhat sensitive.”

“What the fuck, man? I don’t even know you!” There was no way Louis was letting the smiling leprechaun (so he’d noticed the guy was Irish. It was funny. Sue him.) into his flat, no matter how cute he was.

“I’m sorry for the inconvenience, sir, but this is quite important. It involves,” he stopped, looking around. A door was cracked open down the hallway, someone staring out who was clearly curious about all of the ruckus this early in the morning. Niall lowered his voice, “Harry Styles.”

Louis burst out laughing, the door down the hall opening a bit more. “Harry Styles?” he giggled. “You’re at my door at fucking six in the morning, to talk to me about Harry bloody Styles?”

Niall nodded seriously. He continued in a quiet voice. “Specifically _you_ and Harry.” He paused again. “Last night. At Jungle.”

Louis looked down, feeling his cheeks redden a bit. He had gone to Jungle last night. And hooked up. He looked back at Niall, stepped back, and motioned the man into his flat. That was the amazingly attractive man that he’d spent hours with last night, talking, making out (and then some) at Jungle? Harry fucking Styles. Well damn.

Louis closed the door behind Niall and gestured to the dining room table. “Please, have a seat, Mr.-?”

“Horan.” Niall repeated. “I’m from the law firm Horan & Payne.”

Shit, Louis thought. Was hooking up with a pop icon that serious that they sent a lawyer after him?

“Did I do something wrong, Mr. Horan?” Louis asked. “I mean, Harry said he wanted,” he blushed, thinking of the events of the night before, “to, um, you know.” He gestured aimlessly.

“Well, no, you didn’t do anything wrong,” Niall said. “I’m not really here to get the details of your little rendezvous. I’m more concerned with making sure it stays a secret.”

“Considering I didn’t know that my Harry was Harry bloody Styles until about five minutes ago, I’m not sure you have to worry about that, mate.”

Niall smiled. “It’s not you, so much, that we’re worried about. It’s more the tabloids. You may not know, but Harry’s not exactly out. We will need you to sign a non-disclosure agreement, but that’s just a formality, really.”

“I’m not going to tell anyone. I mean, I was planning on calling him.” Louis wasn’t really sure if he would’ve called Harry. He was a single dad after all, and it’s not like he really had time to date. “Wait.” He looked at Niall suspiciously. “Wait,” he repeated. “Is that how you found me? I didn’t-- we didn’t even exchange last names.” Just blowies, he thought, smirking a little.

“We… um…” Niall stammered. “When Hazza—” he corrected himself, “Harry, got home last night, he was more than a little happy to share the, uh, excitement of the evening.” He blushed. “We finally convinced him it would be for the best to have you sign a NDA.”

“Still not gathering how you got from there to here, mate.” Louis gestured around his flat.

“Well, we, that is, my partner and I, we managed to get Harry’s phone from him and got your number. My partner, Liam Payne, did some techno wiz stuff and got your name from your number. Then it was a simple Google search for your address, and here I am. Liam convinced me to wait this long to come, or I’d have been here hours ago.” He looked a little put out, but also a little fond.

“So do you do this with all of the people Harry hooks up with at clubs?” Louis asked, mostly curious, but a little annoyed.

“Not that it’s really any of your business, Mr. Tomlinson, but yes.” Niall said, shaking his head a bit.

“What do I have to do?”

“Just review this paperwork that basically says you will not discuss the details of your night with Harry with any other parties. Then sign here,” he pointed, “and initial here and here.” He pointed again. “And then you’re done.”

Louis took the offered paperwork and read through it. He wasn’t a lawyer, by any means, but it seemed pretty straight forward. He was agreeing to not discuss his rendezvous with Harry or else he could be charged with various fees and possible jail time for breaking the signed agreement.

Louis looked through it once more, making sure he understood everything. Then he took Niall’s pen from the table and initialed and signed. He handed the paperwork back.

“Alright, thank you, Mr. Tomlinson.”

“No problem,” Louis said. “If you don’t mind, I’d love to get back to bed, so thanks for coming, I guess, and goodbye.”

“Of course. We’ll have a copy of this sent over tomorrow. Have a good day.”

Louis showed Niall the door and headed straight back to bed after locking up.

***

A couple of hours later, Louis was rudely awakened for the second time that day. This time it wasn’t incessant knocking, but a shrill ringing. Who was calling him now? He wasn’t due to pick up Jamie until dinner time, so he knew it probably wasn’t his mum.

“Lo?” he grumbled into the phone.

“Louis,” a nervous voice asked, continuing before Louis had the chance to respond. “It’s Niall. Horan. From this morning. It’s all gone to shit.”

“Umm, what?” Louis responded. He wasn’t sure what the fuck was going on.

“Basically, someone got a photo of you and Harry from last night.” Louis’ stomach dropped.

“What do you mean ‘a photo’?” he demanded.

“It’s blurry, but it’s definitely Harry in the photo, making out with another man. Obviously, we know that it’s you, but no one else has figured that out yet.” Niall sounded stressed and rushed.

“But if they don’t know it’s me, why are you calling me?”

“Because, eventually, Louis, someone will figure it out. Or someone else will come up with a photo that’s clearer. We’re already shit up a creek without a paddle, since Harry has just been outed without his consent.” Louis felt his stomach drop again. He wouldn’t wish a forced outing on his worst enemy. His own coming out was calm and well accepted, but everyone had pretty much known already from the second he was walking and talking. He couldn’t even imagine what Harry must be going through.

“Louis? You still there?” Niall asked, a bit of exasperation in his tone.

“Yeah, yeah, sorry, mate,” Louis said. “Just trying to process. What do you need from me?”

“Well, we’re hoping we can spin this,” Niall said. “Try and take control of it as much as we can to stop the bad rumors and focus on the positives of Harry finally getting to fully be himself.”

“And?” Louis prompted.

“Basically, we’re hoping that we claim that the two of you are dating to give Harry some kind of credibility. Historically, we’ve noticed that the general public tends to be more positive towards someone coming out if they are doing it with an established partner. Like, they’re coming out to finally show the world their happy, committed selves.”

“That sounds like a load of bullshit.” Louis said.

“Well, yeah, of course it is,” Niall conceded. “But we’re in a bit of a bind. Obviously, we’d have preferred to do this another way, but this is where we ended up.”

“Obviously,” Louis scoffed.

“So,” Niall continued. “This is what we’d like to do.” He went on to lay out the plan. Harry and Louis would pretend that they had been dating for a few months, and that they’d kept the relationship under wraps partly because Harry was not out to his fans, and partly because they just wanted their privacy. Harry apparently was big on privacy and tended not to share his whole life with his fans, which Louis thought was impressive in this day and age. Louis listened as Niall went on, thinking that what he really needs to do is just talk to Harry. He liked the guy well enough last night, but he probably needed to actually talk to the man he would be essentially fake dating.

“Ok, ok,” Louis interrupted, as Niall was going on about how they needed to ‘just sell this for a few weeks until it all settled down.’

“Yes?”

“Can I talk to Harry about all of this?” Louis figured he should just come right out and ask. If Niall said no, then he could just say no to this whole ‘plan.’

“Hmm, yes, that would probably be a good idea.” Niall said.

“You think? I mean, this whole thing seems like a lot, and I’ve never dated a celebrity before, real or otherwise, and we should probably make sure that this thing is going to work.”

“I can definitely set that up. Are you free for lunch?” Niall asked.

“Yeah?”

“Ok, I will talk to Harry and we’ll send a car for you around 11:30. Then we can get all of the details worked out. Thank you, Louis, honestly, you’re being a big help.”

“Well, I haven’t agreed to anything yet, mate.” Louis reminded Niall. “I want to talk to Harry first before I agree to anything.”

“Understandable.” They exchanged a few more pleasantries, and hung up.

Louis leaned back against his pillows and shook his head. “What am I getting myself into?”

He glanced at the clock, realizing he hadn’t gotten much more sleep between Niall’s visit and his phone call. It was only half past eight. Well, since he was up, he might as well call his mum and check on Jamie.

“Hello, love.”

“Hi, Mum. How’s the squirt?”

“She’s good, playing with your brother and sister. Didn’t think we’d hear from you until lunch at least.”

“Yeah, well, had a lot going on this morning already.”

“I thought you went out last night, to celebrate your ‘child freedom,’” Louis’ mum laughed.

“I did, and, um,” Louis wasn’t really sure he was allowed to tell his mum, since he’d signed that NDA this morning, but circumstances had kind of changed and she was his mum. “I, um, met someone last night.”

“You did? Oh boo, I’m so happy for you. Is he nice? Where did you meet him? What’s he like?”

“God, Mum, enough with the twenty questions. We just met last night! We hung out, talked, danced and made out a bit, honestly.” And more, but as open as Louis was with his mum, he didn’t really want to discuss the blowjobs in the bathroom of Jungle. At least not now. Probably not ever.

“But you want to get to know him?” She prodded.

“I do, it’s just a bit complicated.”

“How so?”

“He’s, well, he’sHarryStylesandsomeonesawanditmightbealloverthenewsnow.” Louis said in a rush.

“Who? What? Louis, slow down love.” His mum sounded a bit amused, so Louis took a deep breath and started again.

“I may have made out with Harry Styles in a club and someone saw us and got photos. And apparently it’s going to be all over the news and now he’s been outed and they want us to like date or summat.”

There was a gasp and a pause from the other end of the line.

“That was not what I was expecting you to say, boo.”

“I know, it’s a bit much, Mum, isn’t it?”

“So this poor boy has been outed because you two were together at some club last night? How can they even do that?” Louis’ mum sounded frustrated and more upset than Louis had been when he’d heard.

“They said there are pictures in the Daily Mail. And that you can’t see that it’s me, but I’m obviously a male. And Harry wasn’t out yet so he’s been kind of forced out. I talked to his lawyer this morning, Mum, twice.”

“His lawyer? They’re not forcing you to do anything, are they?”

“Well, not exactly.”

“Louis.” She said sternly.

“No, Mum, no one is forcing me to do anything. They just want me and Harry to pretend we’re dating. The lawyer said that it looks better when someone comes out in a relationship as opposed to alone.”

“Well that is some utter bullshit.” She lowered her voice at the end, clearly not wanting the children to hear her. “Are you going to do it?”

“I haven’t decided yet, Mum. I haven’t even gotten to talk to Harry yet. I mean, I have Jamie to think about. I don’t want this to be confusing for her, but I do like him. We didn’t really get to know each other last night, but we did exchange numbers, so it could’ve turned into something. Maybe.”

“Well, I just think you need to be careful. Think of Jamie, of course, but you also have to think of you. If you like him, then go for it. Sounds like you’ll be helping him out, and you never know, it could turn into something.”

“I’m going to meet him for lunch, so we’ll see, Mum.”

“Ok, boo, just let me know how it all turns out.”

“Course,” Louis said. “Now let me talk to my other favorite girl.” Louis heard his mum call Jamie to the phone, and tell her who was on the phone.

“Hi Daddy!” The sweetest voice came through the line, and Louis felt some of his anxiousness slip away. Whatever this mess with Harry meant, at least he had his girl.

“Hey, baby girl! Are you being good for Nana?”

“Yes, Daddy. I miss you.”

“Miss you too, love. I’ll come get you after supper, alright?”

“Ok. We played outside yesterday.”

“Did you have fun with Ernie and Doris?”

“Yep! We swinged!” His baby crowed.

“That sounds like a lot of fun, little love. You go have more fun with them today, ok?”

“Ok, Daddy.”

“Give me some kisses and then give the phone back to Nana, ok?”

“Mwah Mwah Mwah.” Louis heard as his daughter kissed at the phone, hopefully not actually kissing it or her Nana wouldn’t be too pleased.

“Alright, boo, we’ll let you go. See you tonight after supper, ok?”

“Yes, Mum. Love you.”

“Love you too, Boo Bear.”

Louis spent the next hour or so playing around on his phone, watching stupid videos on YouTube and half-heartedly sending stupid memes to Stan, his bestie, on WhatsApp. He purposefully avoided scrolling through Twitter, although he was kind of desperate to at least see the pictures Niall was talking about. But he really just wanted to talk to Harry first.

He tried putting a movie on, but he just couldn’t stay focused long enough. His mind kept drifting to the night before, to the events of the morning, to his sweet girl, and his upcoming lunch with his potential future fake boyfriend. It was a lot, ok.

Eventually, he hauled himself out of bed and into the shower. He could still smell the club on him and that was not the best plan for his second impression with the Harry Styles. Especially since he now knew his Harry was famous. Probably best to be squeaky clean and looking good.

***

A car showed up outside at exactly 11:30, like Niall had told him earlier. All too soon, they were pulling up at what Louis considered to be a modest house. It was bigger than something he could’ve afforded, but it wasn’t much bigger than his mum’s house. Honestly, it wasn’t what he was expecting from a multi-platinum pop star. (So he knew Harry’s music, what can you say, the man can sing.)

Taking a deep breath, Louis walked up to the front door and knocked.

“Louis, you’re here!” Niall cried as he answered the door. “Long time no see,” he giggled, almost slapping his knee at his own joke.

“Hello, Niall.” Louis followed Niall into the house, still marveling at the fact that is wasn’t some huge mansion in the middle of nowhere.

They made their way to the dining room, where a nervous looking Harry was waiting at the head of the table.

“So, I’ll just be, you know, not here,” Niall said. “I’ll be in the back if you need me. Let me know if we’ll be talking business.” He took a premade plate from the table and headed out of the room.

“Ok, Nialler, thanks,” Harry said. Then he turned those amazing green eyes on Louis. “Hi.”

Louis stumbled forward. “Oops! I mean, hi.” They both smiled.

“So, I hope you’re ok with pasta,” Harry said. “I was in the mood for some spaghetti and garlic bread, but I can make something else if you’d rather. I should’ve asked, but I didn’t want to bother you again after Niall had already bothered you twice today.” He looked like he was going to continue rambling so Louis cut him off.

“I love spaghetti. Smells great, too.” He settled into the chair nearest Harry. They both served themselves food, occasionally exchanging shy glances.

“Niall said you wanted to talk?” Harry asked.

“Yeah. He explained the whole pictures thing and his plan, but I wanted to talk to you.” Harry looked surprised at that. Louis continued, “I mean, I know we just met last night, but I had fun, and I’m pretty sure I would’ve called you anyway for a real date, so I figured we needed to talk before either of us agreed to this dating plan.”

“You know, I’m actually really glad to hear that,” Harry said. “Niall and Liam talked to me about their plan very briefly this morning, before Niall called you, and it’s probably what’s best, but we don’t want to force you into anything. We can’t force you into anything. But anyway, I’m glad we’re getting the chance to do this.”

Louis nodded. “Me too.”

“Basically, Niall said that our best bet is for me to come out with a boyfriend. That had been our plan all along, but I’m not dating anyone right now, and my management didn’t want me to come out for a while anyway. But now our hand has kind of been forced.” Louis nodded, letting Harry take the lead for this discussion. It was his private life that had been forced out in the first place. “So I’m hoping that you’ll be that boyfriend? We’d like pay you and everything, because it’s a lot to ask of you. And it wouldn’t have to mean anything, most celebrity “relationships” are for PR anyway.”

Harry looked so nervous, and so hopeful that Louis just wanted to yell yes and put a smile back on that gorgeous face. But there were things they needed to talk about before he agreed to anything.

“I do want to help you,” Louis started and a small grin appeared on Harry’s face. “But,” the grin faded, “we need to talk about some things first.”

“Ok, anything,” Harry said.

“I have a daughter.” Louis watched Harry’s face closely. He looked a little confused, but he wasn’t immediately dismissive like past love interests had been. “She’s two and a half, and her name is Jamie, and she is my world. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. She will always come first to me, no matter what. Whatever this is going to be, if it will be something, will have to come second to her. I need that to be out in the open now, before we go any further.”

“Do you have a picture?” Louis was surprised. That had definitely not been the response he was expecting.

“Umm, yeah,” Louis said, pulling out his phone. “I have tons. She loves getting her picture taken.” He showed Harry a few pictures, beaming as Harry cooed and complimented his daughter.

“She’s adorable, Louis, really.”

“Thanks, mate.”

“Is her mom around?” Harry asked. “I know that’s not really my business, but if we’re going to do this, the info about her might come out, and I don’t want to cause any problems.”

“Uh, no, she’s not,” Louis said. “Jamie’s actually, um, not mine biologically. My best friend, Zayn, and his wife, Perrie, named me her legal guardian in the event anything happened to them. And they died in a car crash, two years ago, when Jamie was only six months old. She’s been with me ever since. She obviously doesn’t remember them, so I’m the only daddy she knows. When she’s older I want to tell her about them. They were amazing parents, and so in love. I hate that she will never get to know them.” Louis paused for a minute, wanting to calm down before he continued. It was still hard to talk about Zayn and Perrie, and how he got to be daddy to the best little girl in the universe.

“I’m so sorry to hear that, Louis,” Harry said. “It sounds like Jamie is really lucky to have you.”

Louis was never really sure what to say when people said that to him. “Thanks.” He ran a hand through his hair. “So I do want to help you Harry. I mean, I like you, at least what I know so far. I was actually planning on texting you about maybe going on a real date, after last night.”

“You were?” Harry seemed surprised at that. “And you’re not running for the hills now that you know who I really am?”

“I wasn’t planning on it. If you can be ok with Jamie—”

“I am, I so am,” Harry interrupted.

“Then I can be ok with the fact that you’re a pop star, I suppose,” Louis teased. It was easy for him to fall back into the same banter he and Harry had had the night before. Somehow they had clicked, even though they’d been at a club and a bit drunk.

“So, you’ll do it? Pretend to be with me to help me out?”

“We can more than pretend, if you want,” Louis said.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I’d like to date you, Harry Styles.”

“I guess I can be ok with that,” Harry said cheekily.

They grinned at each other.

“We should probably call Niall back in here,” Harry said. “We still have to figure out some of the details.” He got up and went off to retrieve Niall from wherever he’d wandered to.

Niall came back in, all smiles. “Louis, my new best friend,” he cooed. “I’m so glad you’re going to help Harry out with this.”

“Yeah, of course.”

“We just need to iron out the details. My partner and I will write up a contract, so we can compensate you for your time, and help you and Harry come up with a story.” Louis’ heart skipped a beat.

“You don’t, um, need to do that,” Louis offered.

“Do what? We can’t very well tell people you met last night.”

“No, I mean, you don’t have to give me money.” Louis said. “It just wouldn’t feel right, since we’re going to, you know,” he trailed off. Niall looked confused.

“We’re going to give it a real go, Nialler,” Harry jumped in.

“Oh, aces!” Niall said. “I’m so happy for you mate!” He leaned over to hug Harry. It was clear the two didn’t have a typical lawyer-client relationship.

“But, anyway, Louis,” Niall turned back to him. “We would want to give you something. It’ll be a bit like being on staff. You will attend some events or interviews with Harry, and we want to make sure you get paid for your time. Think of it like a side job, we’re not paying you to date Harry, but we’re paying you to help sell a story. At the very least, you’ll need the money for outfits. Some of the awards shows coming up are fancy dress, and we’d pay for your outfits then, fake date or real date. It’s all about the publicity then.”

“It still makes me feel pretty uncomfortable.” Louis said. It did, but a little voice in the back of his mind was reminding him of the bills that would be coming due soon, and how Jamie could use some new clothes and toys since she was growing so fast. A little extra money would be nice since he wasn’t exactly rolling in it with his day care manager’s job.

“Louis,” Harry cut in. “I know this is the weirdest thing, but we’d pay you to attend events and interviews with me if this wasn’t real. And I do really want this, us, to be real, but I know this whole situation is asking a lot. At least let us give you something. It could be for Jamie.” Niall looked a little lost, but Louis ignored him. Obviously, Harry had figured out the way to get Louis to agree to anything. His daughter.

“Ok, but you’re not giving me a million pounds. Just pay for the outfits you need me to wear and whatever. I do have a job, so Jamie and I will be ok.”

“But I can buy you things, can’t I?” Harry asked. “Like, as your boyfriend?”

“If I can buy you things as your boyfriend.” Louis returned, smiling.

“Fine.” The two grinned at each other, and Louis blushed.

“Well now that it’s all settled,” Niall said. “Let’s come up with your story. Let’s make it a good one.”

***

They did. They turned Harry’s forced coming out into a beautiful tale of two boys who fell in love and wanted to share that love with their family and friends. The public reaction was mostly positive, even when Louis took it upon himself to complain about forced outings and the needed changes in support for LGBT people. They didn’t change the world overnight, but they did fall in love that way. It was almost instant, like they’d been destined to be together in every version of the universe.

A few years later, they married in a quiet ocean-side ceremony with their families and close friends, and Jamie as their flower girl. Harry adopted her the very next day. In short, they lived happily ever after.

The blurry club photo that started the whole thing? They framed it and hung it in their bedroom.


End file.
